The present invention relates to adapting an automatic call distribution (ACD) system designed for routing telephone calls, to allow the routing of non-circuit switched contacts.
ACD systems are typically used to distribute telephone calls among a group of agents of an organization. However, ACD systems may be used to distribute contacts under any of a number of different formats. In a first instance, a contact may be a telephone call received from (or placed through) a public switched telephone network (PSTN). A contact also may be a voice path based upon packet data transferred through a computer network such as the Internet using web telephony. Alternatively, a contact may be any communication such as an e-mail, a facsimile, a video, or a web-site inquiry received through the Internet, etc. Thus, ACD systems are transaction processing systems which can handle one or more of a wide variety of these contact types.
An organization can disseminate a single telephone number, URL or e-mail address, for example, to customers and to the public in general as a means of contacting the organization. As contacts are directed to the organization from the PSTN or the Internet, the ACD system can direct the contacts to the organization""s agents based upon some algorithm. For example, where all agents are considered equal, the ACD may distribute a contact based on which agent has been idle the longest time. Of course, there are many other possible ways to select an agent, or a subgroup of agents from whom an available one will be selected.
The ACD system can be provided with any number of routing mechanisms for establishing call paths between callers and agents. In some systems, a first path may be established through a circuit switched voice port, such as for calls from the PSTN. An alternative path may be a data link (such as over a Local Area Network (LAN)) such as for an e-mail received through a computer network such as the Internet.
Control of the switching and communications with a database and with an external network such as a PSTN may, for example, be accomplished generally as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,268,903 and 5,140,611, both to Jones et al. which are hereby incorporated by reference. Routing of calls to agents may, for example, be accomplished generally as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,269 to Steinlicht, U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,581 to Baker et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,327 to Dezonno, which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Many existing ACD systems were created with a focus on circuit switched telephone communications, and other contact formats are being incorporated into the system as the need arises. However, there can be a data link with most agents even if many agents handle only circuit switched telephone calls. For example, it may be important for an agent to have ready access to customer files in systems associated with service organizations, where many calls are received and handled by many agents. A database is maintained of existing customer files, which may be displayed on agent terminals as the agents converse with specific customers.
In a typical ACD system, selected portions of memory are assigned to the agents who are logged-on to handle contacts, and selected portions of memory are assigned to circuit switched telephone trunk lines for communication with external sources. In routing a contact with an external source, the ACD establishes a relationship between a portion of memory assigned to an external line with a portion of memory assigned to an agent. In a typical ACD system, a selected portion of memory assigned to an external line is a voice port capable of interfacing with a circuit switched telephone trunk line. The number of physical telephone lines is a limitation on the number of voice ports. Therefore, there is a need for such an ACD to be able to route contacts in other formats, without occupying a voice port. In this way, it will be possible to make more efficient use of the voice ports.
In an embodiment of the invention, the routing is accomplished by using a xe2x80x9cmedia-portxe2x80x9d to emulate the operations of a voice port in the ACD system. The novel system includes allocation of memory resources, and initialization of system data in order to satisfy the operating requirements of an existing ACD system. Upon receipt of a request for a media-port from a host computer, the ACD assigns and initializes a selected portion of computer memory to appear like a voice port. The existing ACD can then function similarly for telephone and non-telephone contacts.